Eyewitness: The rise and fall of Dorling Kindersley: The Inside Story of a Publishing Phenomenon (DK Eyewitness Books)

The early chapters are the most fun, but it's in the middle chapters that you get some sense of how DK operated, what its challenges were, and what its successes were. DK went through several partnerships which showed how important its corporate culture was, and how different from other publishers. The last one, with Penguin, is a final sad story.Book is both informative and fun to read.

This is the heaviest book I've tried to read in bed! I love DK travel guides and wanted to know the story of the company. Engaging and well worth the money and the time to read.

I have always enjoyed DK publications for their captions, pictures and graphics. This book gives the inside story of the rise and fall of an idea and the people behind it.

I am at the butt-end of the publishing process, being one of the sheep who baas happily when the product is good. This is one of the funniest books I have read lately. Christopher Davis manages to give us some "eyewitness" testimony about the realities of the publishing business in the pre-, mid- and post-PC eras, while conveying to us how exhilarating the early years must have been at DK, before the bankers moved in, with their prudent reluctance to be photographed on a white background.Davis's book is an important document for the history of the publishing industry at a certain moment of time -- perhaps a Goetterdaemmerung? It will not be of much concern to those wanting a manual on how to start and grow a publishing fortune in the e-future, but it will be of absorbing interest to cultural historians and to anyone over the age of 40 who loves books and who still has a sense of humor. Baa, baa!

I've worked in publishing for more than a decade, and I recently got a hankering to read a few books about the publishing industry. I wanted something that shed some light on best practices, but I didn't want a manual. The latter is amply covered by books such as the Chicago Manual of Style or Lee's Bookmaking.This new book by Christopher Davis appealed to me at first glance, since it is about an illustrated publisher, based in the U.K., called Dorling Kindersley, or DK for short. In some ways, I think this heightened the appeal for me, since I also produce illustrated books, but it may lessen the appeal for others in publishing who don't. These books are labor intensive and have problems unique to themselves, not the least of which is offsetting the formidably high costs of color printing, photo rights, and the staff needed to assemble them. Nevertheless, Davis's narrative promised the inside scoop, since he was one of the company's founders and eventually became its publisher and deputy chairman.While I didn't find many dazzling business insights in the book, I was entertained by Davis's light-handed approach to his material. There are amusing stories about the creation of several of the best-known DK books. Among the authors he mentions are Gerry Durrell (The Amateur Naturalist), Sheila Kitzinger (Pregnancy and Childbirth), John Seymour (Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency), and Sister Wendy Beckett (The Story of Painting). The catastrophic overprinting of the Star Wars Episode 1 books (by David West Reynolds, unnamed in the book) is also discussed at some length.At times Davis seems to cop the tone of a John Cleese in recounting his mad-cap experiences at the Frankfurt Book Fair and in running the business. These episodes give a glimpse at an insider's experience, particularly in its social and drunken aspects, but it's hard to imagine that they would resonate with, or even amuse, anybody outside of the industry.I was disappointed by the lack of an index and bewildered by the decision to print the entire book on an unnecessarily heavy paper stock, with only one or two color photographs per signature. The book's contents certainly didn't warrant this treatment. The illustrations (mostly of book covers) could have been left out entirely, or handled more cost effectively as an insert, since they are not essential to the narrative -- ironically, antithetical to the way DK handles illustrations.Overall, I recommend the book, with the right-sized expectations.

Eyewitness: The Rise and Fall of Dorling Kindersley: The Inside Story of a Publishing Phenomenon by Christopher Davis. This book about the rise and fall of DK by the lateChristopher Davis who was in a position to tell the story of DK's rise and fall. He joined the company at its foundation and in time became Group Publisher. The narrative he provides is a dual one, encompassing the visionary genius of Peter Kindersley and the publishing revolution he oversaw charting the remarkable, sometimes precarious, frequently comic, ride as the company grew from a handful of people in a studio in South London to a giant global business. In the rapidly changing publishing world of today, this book is also a nostalgic reminder of a time when creativity could flourish unencumbered by the shackles of corporate bureaucracy. Highly recommended.

The story of Dorling Kindersley from its beginnings as a book packager to its rise and collapse as a publisher by a man who was there from beginning to end.Dorling Kindersley changed forever the appearance of reference books, field guides and travel guides. Before they came along, field guides were slabs of text printed on the cheapest paper with a signature of indifferent colour plates bound in. DK introduced colour on every page, clear illustrations, text next to the pictures and beautiful design.It's fitting then that this is not the usual publisher's memoir - bibulous lunches with long-forgotten authors - but a thrilling account of the rise and fall of an innovative company. Davis argues it was brought down by someone referred to only as `Marketing Man' as if he (who died recently) can't even bring himself to type the name.The book has only one fault - and it is a big one. Christopher Davis was a good enough publisher to know when a book needs an index. This hasn't even got a table of contents. If you want to know when DK introduced computers or floated on the Stock Exchange then you just have to read through until you get there.Unless someone produces an index for you:CD Roms 219computers 115dumped 294Eyewitness 121floatation 180Gates, Bill 160How Things Work 136Lucas, George 276Marketing Man 281travel guides 193Wendy, Sister 225

It tells it how it was, and is written by one of the most intelligent, articulate and charismatic people I've known in publishing. It illustrates what can happen to companies once they cease to become private, how power can go to someone's head and result in damaging decisions that have ruinous effects on a company and its employees, and how publishing 'going corporate' has affected the creativity and individuality that once existed in the business.DK was a brilliant company to work for in its heyday - what a great shame that such a wonderful enterprise collapsed.

This book tells it all, as it was, with humor and intelligence. If you want to know what lies at the heart of a truly great company then this account of a "maison celebre" is for you.The first chapter "Bad night in a hotel" describes two creatures of contrasting constitutions shacked up in a cramped bedroom in Frankfurt "on a mission". It is impossible to read this opener without side splitting laughter (assuming you knew the habits of the Heron bending in the wind!)The book does what it says on the cover: tells the story of the rise and fall of Dorling Kindersley probably alongside Gallimard the most creative and ambitious of illustrated publishers in modern times. The story is interlaced with cavorts of all kinds (I love the John Seymour stuff in chapter 4 Ashes and Diamonds).From a business perspective there is much to appreciate: the qualities of a visionary and uncompromising leader; the values and culture of a winning company; the mistakes of ill-suited shareholders; the rewards of hard graft; art over science; passion and contagion and much more...Few books are this good nor this important. Bring back the good old days when publishing belonged to publishers and grey suits belonged elsewhere (preferably a million miles from the editorial and design offices).Good luck to all those that have just been let go of in the Penguin wash.

richiesto per conto di mio figlio, è stato pienamente soddisfatto